


Holiday Spirit

by teardrops_on_ghostly_wings



Category: Good Omens (TV), Good Omens - Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett
Genre: Alcohol, Angst, Christmas, Christmas Eve, Christmas Fluff, Christmas Music, Christmas Presents, Comfort, Couch Cuddles, Cuddling & Snuggling, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, Eggnog, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Holidays, Hurt Crowley, Hurt/Comfort, Ineffable Husbands (Good Omens), Ineffable Idiots (Good Omens), Insults, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Reminiscing, Tears, Zira kinda acts like a dick but an angelic one
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-23
Updated: 2019-12-23
Packaged: 2021-02-26 01:35:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,387
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21925285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/teardrops_on_ghostly_wings/pseuds/teardrops_on_ghostly_wings
Summary: Crowley and Aziraphale accidentally meet up on Christmas Eve and spread some holiday cheer
Relationships: Aziraphale & Crowley (Good Omens), Aziraphale/Crowley (Good Omens)
Kudos: 15





	Holiday Spirit

Christmas Eve has always been one of Aziraphale's favourite days. It's lost most of its religious connotations over the years and is no longer about celebrating Jesus but it's still a special time. There's so much happiness, love and kindness in the air that an angel can't help feeling good. Aziraphale performs miracles all year but around Christmas humans do some of their own which is lovely to watch.

Over the last few decades Aziraphale's started spending the day giving out presents and Christmas cheer at charities. Donating to charity is one of his favourite things to convince the humans to do so doing it himself is even nicer. Nothing can beat walking into an orphanage to give out presents to children in need and bless them with finding happy homes next year. Christmas trees and Santa Claus are a little ridiculous but spreading joy can't be beaten.

Aziraphale's already been to 7 other places when he gets to his last stop, a women's refuge. Before going in he carefully checks his aura and alters his appearance a little to make himself seem older. As an angel very few people ever have bad feelings about him but when going somewhere like this he always likes to make sure. These poor women have been through so much so he wants them to see him as nothing more than a friendly, harmless old gay man.

As Aziraphale walks through the door with his bag of presents, he smiles at a volunteer then stops dead when he feels a familiar presence. Usually feeling Crowley close is the loveliest thing but him being here is weird. Crowley's never been shy about the fact he loves any kind of holiday or celebration but he should be out partying and spreading sin, not here with vulnerable women.

Aziraphale feels the anger rising up in him but holds himself back when he sees the demon. Crowley's back in his female corporation with red hair tumbling down his back and soft flowing clothes, looking a little like Anathema. He's sitting with a young women, cradling her child close while she cries into the demons shoulder.

This whole thing feels too private to intrude on but Aziraphale still feels uneasy about the whole thing. He knows Crowley would never do anything cruel or truly evil but he can't think of what he's doing here. Playing tricks and annoying the general population can admittedly be amusing at times but some things are too far. Hurting people who have already been scarred for life is too evil for any demon, much less one as kind as Crowley.

Aziraphale edges out of sight and watches Crowley with the woman. He holds her for a long time before handing the child back and saying something to her before she walks off. Before she's out of sight Crowley snaps his fingers and Aziraphale feels the familiar tug of demonic energy. It's not obvious what Crowley did to the woman but before Aziraphale can figure it out, the demons walking out of the building.

Quickly Aziraphale miracles all his presents under their Christmas tree and performs a miracle to make sure all the women in the refuge will be safe from their abusers for another year.

Crowley's walking down the road away from the refuge so Aziraphale runs after him, catching his wrist and pulling him back. The demon looks shocked to see his friend but quickly hides that under his usual mask of cool indifference.

"Hi angel, you need something?"

"What the hell are you playing at Crowley? Are you really spreading evil to abused women on Christmas Eve?"

Crowley's mouth falls open and he splutters in outrage but Aziraphale's already had time to build up his anger. Rough he shoves the demons shoulder and crosses his arms over his chest "I never thought you'd do something so disgusting Crowley, there are billions of people in the world for you to hurt. Find some annoying businessmen to mess with and send to Hell, I won't let you get near abuse victims you horrible evil demon"

While Aziraphale keeps ranting about how Crowley's betrayed him, the demon can only stare in shock. Before he realises it, there's tears welling up in his eyes and a throbbing ache in his chest. He's been scolded by the angel many times over the millennia but it's never quite been like this. Before it was always half hearted and the angel could never quite convince Crowley he really meant what he was saying but there's no doubt now. He's not weakly repeating something he's been told in Heaven and feels obligated to say, this is something coming from Aziraphale's heart.

By the time Aziraphale's rant is coming to a close tears are freely streaming down Crowley's cheeks and he feels more alone than he has since Eden. It really sounds like Aziraphale's ready to throw away their friendship completely because he thinks Crowley's done something truly unforgivable.

When Crowley finally gets a chance to speak he's so distraught that all he can do is sink to his knees. He can feel snow seeping through his thin skirt, chilling him to the core but nothing could hurt more than Aziraphale's anger.

The angel watches his friend sob at his feet until he can't take it anymore and sinks to his needs alongside Crowley. He pulls the demon into a hug and rubs circles on Crowley's back in the way Aziraphale knows always calms him down. The sudden warmth and comfort is enough to get a new round of tears out of Crowley as he cries pitifully into his best friends chest.

As he cries Aziraphale strokes him comfortingly and whispers "It's ok my dear, we can go back to the refuge and get rid of whatever you did then everything will be ok. I know you're a good person so we can fix this and spread some more holiday cheer"

Crowley shakes his head against the angels chest and tried to get out the words to explain himself but can't. Aziraphale's anger and hatred towards him cuts him so deep that no words feel like they could ever fix that. Even after so many kind things he's done over the years of their friendship, the angel still believes he's a heartless monster.

When Aziraphale feels Crowley trying to refuse he pushes the demon back and fixes him with another glare, his anger quickly returning. "Crowley I'm serious, we're going back to make sure those poor women have nothing but love and safety this Christmas or so help me I'll throw you in a bath of holy water myself"

That gets another weak little sob out of Crowley as he grabs onto the lapels of Aziraphale's coat "Angel what the fuck? Do you really think I'm an evil piece of shit? I'd throw myself into a bath of holy water before I hurt abused women, you know that, you know me angel"

Aziraphale freezes underneath him but Crowley keeps holding onto him, not ready to let him move away yet. They stay kneeling in the snow until Crowley's legs start to go numb so he lets the angel drag him to his feet. A soft miracle warms Crowley up without him ever having to move away from the angel.

With gentle hands holding the demon close Aziraphale murmurs "What were you doing there if it wasn't tempting?"

"I was doing blessings angel, I spend a whole year spreading unhappiness so sometimes I need to do a little good to people who deserve it"

"You're a demon, you don't do blessings"

"I've been doing them for you for centuries so why can't I do them for myself occasionally?"

"I'm sorry darling, I shouldn't have assumed the worst, can you ever forgive me for being so harsh?"

With shaky hands Crowley drags the angel into another hug to say all is forgiven then reaches down to link their fingers "I have one more place I was planning to go, will you come with me angel?"

"Of course darling, where are we going?"

"An orphanage, it's my favourite place to go"

Aziraphale's already been to a couple but is more than happy to go to another, especially with Crowley by his side. Crowley miracles himself back into his normal clothes, sick of being cold in feminine clothing and ties his hair up in a messy bun. It's one of Aziraphale's favourite looks on him which he hasn't shied away from telling the demon lately which has been very pleasant.

Together they walk down the street to the orphanage and run in together to get out of the cold. While Aziraphale takes off his coat in the warm a middle aged women comes up to them and pulls Crowley into a hug. He hugs back happily and they start talking about some of the new kids that have arrived lately. Aziraphale's pretty left out of the conversation but he's starting to have more realisations which are distraction enough.

Obviously this woman knows Crowley which means he must have come here a lot. The idea of his darling demon coming here every year to spread cheer to lonely children is enough to confirm Aziraphale's love for him. Falling in love with a demon may have been a questionable decision but Crowley makes it seem like a better and better idea with every lovely thing he does.

Still holding hands, the two of them walk around the orphanage together, giving out presents and performing subtle miracles. Multiple kids run over to give the demon hugs, give him the pictures they've drawn and show off how much they've grown in the last year. Aziraphale feels his heart getting even warmer the more he's confronted with the demons sheer goodness.

By the time they leave Crowley's jeans have drawings stuffed in every available pocket and has the softest expression on his face. Every time Aziraphale sees a child he wants to bless, Crowley's already there doing it before the angel can. While they walk out Crowley looks exhausted but is smiling more than Aziraphale's ever seen him do before.

As soon as they're out of sight of the orphanage Aziraphale holds Crowley's hand tighter and miracles them to Crowley's apartment. The demon looks close to passing out so Aziraphale sweeps him up into his arms despite protests.

Carefully he carries Crowley to his couch and lies him down as gently as possible. When they started spending long periods of time together Aziraphale forced Crowley to get the couch so they'd have somewhere comfortable to talk and drink. The minimalistic apartment is very trendy and aesthetic but sometimes you need a big, ugly, overstuffed sofa to truly feel at home. Once the demons settled, Aziraphale gently pulls the hair tie out of his hair to let the beautiful copper curls fall over his shoulders.

Crowley whines at the feeling and rolls onto his side to watch the angel with dopey eyes as he kneels beside the couch. This is the most open and loose Aziraphale's ever seen his friend while they're both sober and it's beautiful to see. He's started to see Crowley in another light after today and he can't believe he ever missed the pure goodness in the demon. He might have fallen for asking questions and doubting Her but it's never changed the pure love in his heart.

The force of Aziraphale's love has always been a constant but now it's fully focuses on Crowley and the demon doesn't know how to react. He's still deeply hurting from how cruel Aziraphale was but the love washing over him does its best to drown that out.

The struggle in Crowley's eyes is painfully obvious so Aziraphale brushes a piece of hair from the demons face and bows his head "Oh my dear boy I'm so sorry. I hope you know I have never truly thought you were evil and I knew you weren't hurting those women. You've always been so good and kind and everything a demon shouldn't be which is why I was so upset. The thought of you being evil hurt me and made me question who you were because the demon I know would never hurt an innocent. I've known it since you smuggled children into Noah's Arc and I've known it every second since, you're the best person in the universe darling, nothing could change that"

Seeing the beautiful angel humble himself and bare his heart to a demon does things to him that Crowley could never explain. Aziraphale was made to worship God so seeing him worship Crowley instead is incredibly humbling.

With heavy limbs Crowley heaves himself up from the couch to kneel beside the angel. He presses their foreheads together and pulls Aziraphale against his chest "Thank you angel, I've only been ver wanted to be good for you and please you, I'd never do anything to hurt you"

They stay together on the floor pressed close together until Aziraphale starts complaining about his knees and they migrate back to the couch.

Crowley lazily miracles them both some eggnog which makes Aziraphale laugh then cough as he takes a sip. It's a little heavier on the brandy than it probably should be but you can't expect much else from Crowley. 

Through the first couple of cups of eggnog they talk aimlessly about previous holidays. They've only spent a couple of Christmas's together but both of them involved copious amounts of alcohol. Aziraphale's been very enthusiastic about eggnog since it was created centuries ago and Crowley's always happy to indulge in anything the angel likes. 

Once they're both tipsy Crowley lazily waves his hand towards his radio. Bad cringey Christmas music isn't something Crowley invented but it always gives him pleasure to hear it. Knowing that humans can come up with such unpleasant things all by themselves without demonic intervention gives him hope for humanity. As much as demons might try to take credit for humans sins, they're more than capable of sending themselves to Hell without any help whatsoever. 

With Mariah Carrey singing softly in the background Crowley raises his third cup of eggnog to cheers with Aziraphale with a smile.

"Merry Christmas angel, I hope we can spend a lot more together"

"Merry Christmas my darling Crowley"


End file.
